Re: Affix terminology (was: Naming the conlang)

> In fact, natlangs don't slot neatly into the simple list I gave. I'm
> reminded that in ancient Greek, there are a few verbs who form their
> 'present stem' by suffixing -an- at the same time (hence, I guess,
> SIL's
> coining of "simulfix") as infixing a homorganic nasal before the final
> consonant of the root; with these verbs the simple root is used as the
> aorist stem, e.g.
>
> ROOT PRESENT STEM EXAMPLES
> math- manthan- emathon = I learnt ~ emanthanon = I was
> learning
> lab- lamban- elabon = I took ~ elambanon = I was taking
> lakh- laNkhan- elaknon = I obtained by lot ~ elaNkhanon = I
> was
> obtaining by lot
> tykh- tyNkhan- etykhe = it happened ~ etyNkhane = I was
> happening
> khad- khandan- ekhadon = I held ~ ekhandanon = I was
> holding

This looks like secondary nasalization of a stop under the influence of
a nasal consonant in the suffix. Edward Sapir described something
similar to this in his 1930 grammar of Southern Paiute. In Southern
Paiute, every morpheme has what is now called a "final feature" (no
analysis in terms of distinctive features is implied with this term,
though). There are three final features: Geminating, Nasalizing, and
Spirantizing. The Geminating feature causes a following voiceless stop
to surface as a geminate; the Nasalizing feature causes a following
stop to surface as a nasal-stop cluster; and the Spirantizing feature
causes a following stop to surface as a voiced fricative:
Geminating: [ku_0h'tSakka] 'be grey' (kuttSa- 'grey', -ka 'STATIVE')
Nasalizing: ['pa1Nka] 'be smooth' (pa1- 'smooth', -ka 'STATIVE')
Spirantizing: [aN'kaGa] 'be red' (aNka- 'red', -ka 'STATIVE')
(Sapir 1930: 63)
Many instances of nasalization are due to what Sapir calls "secondary
nasalization"; a stem bears the Nasalizing feature (or select suffixes
with a nasal-stop cluster) because the stem itself contains a nasal
consonant. Examples given by Sapir include:
[taNa-mpi] 'kicker' (taNa- 'kick', -vi/-mpi 'AGENTIVE')
[taNwa-mpi] 'tooth' (taNwa- 'tooth', -pi 'ABSOLUTIVE')
(Sapir 1930: 67)
The agentive suffix shown in the first example varies between an
initial voiced fricative and a nasal-stop cluster. When the verb stem
contains a nasal, the nasal-stop cluster variant is used; otherwise,
the spirantized variant is used, regardless of the final feature of the
stem. In the second example, the absolutive suffix (not a case marker;
it is a suffix which appears on nouns in citation form, roughly; think
Hebrew 'absolute' vs 'construct') varies according to the final feature
of the stem. In this case, the final feature is Nasalizing, presumably
because of the medial nasal consonant. In both cases, the nasal-stop
cluster is selected under influence of the nasal already present in the
stem.
Dirk
--
Dirk Elzinga
Dirk_Elzinga@byu.edu
Grammatica vna et eadem est secundum substanciam in omnibus linguis,
licet accidentaliter varietur. - Roger Bacon (1214-1294)